EduWorkAble (Formerly JourneyFlows): Empowering people with disabilities to advance their education and become stronger candidates for employment

Vision
EduWorkAble seeks to help our local community members with disabilities to further their educational and career goals. We aim to mentor adults with disabilities to become strong candidates for employment. We seek to motivate young people and adults with disabilities to further their education. We will inform our local community members with disabilities of educational and career advancement opportunities via panels, resume-review workshops, 1-on-1 office hours, and more.

How We Operate

Step 1: We have created a database of 500+ disability organizations across more than 30 countries. We reach out to these disability support organizations around the world expressing interest in partnering with them to organize region-specific education-focused or employment-focused panels.

Step 2: For disability support organizations that express interest, we schedule region-specific education-focused or employment-focused panels with them. Panels are 45-minutes long with the intended audience being people with disabilities. We obtain verbal or written consent from all participants to voluntarily attend these panels.

Step 3: For education-focused panels, we highlight strategies to perform well in standardized tests, the application process, admissions interviews, and more. We also spotlight local universities in the area. For employment-focused panels, we highlight strategies to stand out in resumes, cover letters, job interviews, and more. We also spotlight local companies in the area. We also ask the audience about the challenges they have faced in obtaining higher education and/or employment and what they would like to see changed. Attendees also have the opportunity to ask questions.

Step 4: After each panel, attendees will have the opportunity to sign up for a 1-on-1 mentorship session with a Global Shaper to help them further their education or become stronger candidates for employment. Attendees will also have the opportunity to submit their resume for review by a Global Shaper.


Global Expansion
The success of EduWorkAble is strongly reliant on a domino effect. We aim to expand EduWorkAble to at least 3 new hubs each quarter. Quarterly deliverables may be slightly altered for individual hubs around the world. 

Big Wins from JourneyFlows 
JourneyFlows achieved incredible success notably the following:

  • Created a database of 500+ disability support organizations across 30+ countries

  • Held focus sessions with Association for People with Cerebral Palsy of Mexico, National Council for the Blind of Ireland, and Parkinson’s Association of Ireland branch

  • Translated project documentation into Spanish 

  • Created content for JourneyFlows project webpage and published on Global Shapers Palo Alto Hub page 

Contact
If you have any further questions or want to get involved in this project, please email girkaruma@gmail.com